A Hero's Muse (MGQ - SI)
by Triforcedlink
Summary: I regret a lot of things I did back in my old world, dying an embarrassing death is just one of them. Now I'm stuck in the body of a kid with a potential to end a Light's goddess's plans of genocide and who's dream has a high risk of "death by sex". The worst part being that I've grown fond of the squirt. Well, the least I can do is help him prepare in whatever way I can.
1. Prologue: Accidents happen

**Disclaimer: I don't own MGQ, it belongs to its respective owners.**

You ever have those moments where you could go back in time a tiny bit and undo whatever screw up you made? I think what just happened to me counts as one of those screw-ups but unlike other fixable mistakes, you can't take back this one. You see I was having a party with some of my friends back home. I was pretty depressed about another failure in getting a job interview, so figured to myself that getting some time to unwind would be rather nice.

The food was great, the drinks were great, and I was drunker than any of my friends. I was not one for alcohol, my accidental encounter with it when I was a kid turned me off from it. Let's just say that mistaking Beer for Pepsi left a bad taste in my mouth.

Also I kinda broke my neck while walking upstairs. That was honestly not the best moment of my life and was the LAST moment of my life. The only bright side was that I died rather quickly and didn't stick around to feel the pain of having my neck twisted at a rather unnatural angle…

I wonder whether it was a 45 degree angle or a 90 degree angle?

…..

Cut me some slack here, I didn't exactly have time to check what with the small amount of conscious I had left. I am kinda grateful that I didn't exactly have a slow death like some unfortunate souls do…

I'm getting off-topic and probably should stop rambling to myself in whatever purgatory I'm in.

Yes, purgatory.

I wasn't exactly religious but I can take a good guess at where I was at right now. Considering I'm not in some hellish fireplace made of Brimstone and the tears of the damned, I'm almost definitely sure I am not rotting in hell.

Funny, I'd figure my sins of looking at some Rule 34 would have done me in.

I definitely wasn't in Heaven considering most depictions of Heaven showed it as a virtual paradise for good folk and all that jazz. Unless in some weird twist of irony, my definition of paradise was a dark void. God, ROB, or whatever creator deity that's responsible for this must have a sick sense of humor.

Anyway, I stayed in this dark void for god knows how long. I'm pretty sure I lost my sense of time after a few hours, along with the general insanity of being stuck in the fucking void with nothing to do to keep me occupied but my own thoughts. As time passed by, I almost wished that I was in Hell.

I had even forgotten my last name and had almost certainly forgotten whatever family I did have. In case you're wondering my name is Jacob, or Jake for short if you prefer. Sorry I can't recall my last or middle name, but at least I had something to work with.

So as my sense of sanity started to erode from my very mind, I begin to pray. At this point I was desperate for ANYTHING new to happen. I remember taking pride in always trying to be optimistic, but staying in purgatory had wiped away a good amount of hope in me.

Then, a very convenient miracle happened in front of my nonexistent eyes. A twinkle of light I could see out in the distance making its presence known in the vast darkness. At first I thought that it was a hallucination created by my mind to plant some hope in me, but the light continued to shine like a star and eventually I caved.

I hovered to where the light was shining at. As I got closer, hope began to burn into my chest, giving me enough strength to quicken my pace.

Close…

Getting there…

I could feel warmth spreading throughout my soul, as the light got brighter and brighter. If I had a flesh and blood body I would be shedding tears in relief that I was finally getting the hell out of here. I was finally next to the light, without an ounce of hesitation; I reached my hand forward and grabbed it.

My whole world went dark and I faded out of the void.

* * *

It wasn't long before awareness returned to me. And what I saw filled me with glee. Shapes, Colors, an assortment of things I had taken for granted in my previous life were surrounding me. I also had feeling back in my body which was also a good start.

I looked in awe at my surroundings, while greedily drinking it all as much as I could.

Suddenly I heard a maternal voice affectionately call out someone's name.

"Luka, dinner's ready"

I was slightly puzzled considering the voice was coming from inside what looked like the kitchen. It also bothered me that the voice was calling out in my direction, and my name was most definitely not Luka. What was going on here?

What happened next completely startled me, along with giving me deeper understanding of the amount of shit I was in for.

"Coming mother!" A young boy's voice rang out from where I felt my mouth was. Shocked, I did not enough time to collect myself before I felt myself unwilling walk towards the kitchen. As a matter of fact, I didn't have as much control over my body as I thought.

I looked down, and noticed that I was small, like the size of a kindergartener. I also noticed that even though I was looking down at "my" feet, I could not feel "my" eyes shift downwards. My thoughts were racing at a pace that would make Light itself green with envy.

What the hell is going on!? Why can I not control my body!? How can this be fucking happening to me right now!?

And then realization hit me in the face.

This was not my body, I was not in that dark-black Purgatory anymore thank god, but I did not get my body back. I was too optimistic that getting out of the afterlife was going to make everything alright,that things would be all right for me in the end, that the status quo was about to return to normal. I had no idea where I was, I had no idea where or who my friends were along with no way of contacting anybody.

Most importantly…

My soul was stuck inside a kid's body as a free ride. I reincarnated, but did not do it naturally and perfectly, but in some half-assed manner. At first I was in a stunned horrified stupor, but soon my horror turned into…

I guess at this point, only one word could summarize my feelings on this complete and utter bullshit.

'FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK'

"Mom, do you hear anybody screaming right now?" Luka looked around nervously. Seems like he can hear me though, not sure how to feel about that right now.

"No, why do you ask?" Okay, his mom cannot hear me. At the moment I was too embroiled into my rage to give a crap about that right now.

The young boy that I was stuck in called called Luka gave a conflicted look before shrugging his shoulders.

I could only hope could salvage something from this mess. One thing did keep bothering me though…

Why does the name sound familiar to me?


	2. First contact

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own MGQ, it belongs to its respective owners.**

…

So two weeks have passed since my little 'outburst', and now that I've calmed down I can think a bit more clearly. So I think I'll do a tiny recap as to exactly what happened to me. I died like a bitch, my soul got trapped in some dark ass place which I suspect was purgatory, and now I'm in some medieval hellhole.

Said medieval hellhole is a complete unknown to me at the moment, but something about it rings a bell to me. My head is still a bit jumbled from my… well I can't exactly call it a "near-death" experience given I did die after all. I think I'll just call it post-death mindfuck right now.

Wow, my corpse has probably already been buried and I've already accomplished more in death then in life.

Awesome.

Anyway, I did learn a few things about where I am at, and who exactly my unwitting hosts are called.

The kid I'm residing in is called Luka, who has light blue eyes and purple hair. Not going to lie, for a few days I thought he dyed his hair, because purple is not a natural color for a human. I haven't exactly got a date on his age, but he's definitely within the six to nine range.

He's quite the little helper around the house. Which I have a feeling he enjoys doing to a certain extent, given he doesn't complain about it at all. I figure that he just doesn't want his mom to get overtaxed with household chores. Fair enough, it's not too unusual to be that eager to help.

Now his mom's name is Lucasta. I'm going to take an educated guess that Luka gets most of his looks from his dad, because he doesn't have purple hair or facial expressions from her. Dark blonde hair, with the same eyes as Luka. Honestly the only reason I knew Luka has blue eyes was because they had a mirror in the house.

Anyway, Luka's mom dressed conservatively, which was to be expected. If woman here dressed as casually as mine did in my time well… let's say that they wouldn't have a pleasant time.

Honestly though, it seems like the both of them are having a rough time here in this 'Ilias' village anyway. The villagers here are rather xenophobic given how they've been glaring hard enough that even I can feel it. From what I've been hearing it seems like the two of them had moved here from the north, and the villagers didn't take kindly to some outsiders moving in.

And the worst part about all of this… is that it feels familiar. And while I still feel a bit loopy, I know I never lived a life of being scorned by my neighbors.

There's too much unknown about the area around me. It also sucks that I currently don't have enough strength to get out of Luka's body at the moment. It's possible, I could feel my arm exiting out, before weakness hit it and I had to withdraw it.

A big question is how long would this take? A week? Months? Years?

I'm not sure if I would like the answer to that question honestly. Well it could be worse. I could still be stuck in that godless void.

The best I can manage is listening to what's going on around me. Speaking of troubles with the locals, apparently they aren't very happy with them. They even refused to actually sell some goods with them and are trying to drive them away.

Oh and also Luka wants to visit the shrine. I believed that he had some odd obsession with what the locals called "heroes". I'm starting to wonder if I'm in a fantasy setting.

"Hey mom, can I go down to the temple today? I heard somebody was getting baptized today. You think they'll let me in? " Suddenly Luka asked. I was kinda quite off guard by the question he asked to his mom, but...

This could actually be useful…

Still wish I had my flesh and blood body though. Maybe I'll learn something even if it's just the equivalent of going to a sunday church meeting. There has to be something there that could tell me something useful. Anything at all would be useful.

"Luka, you know that the baptisms are a private affair. We've had these discussions before." I could tell Lucasta had a disapproving frown on her face, because I could see her doing it through Luka's eyes. Don't ask me how. Body sharing is really fucking weird.

Speaking of body sharing, I can actually feel Luka being abashed. Like I can actually feel the emotion instead of deciphering it from facial muscles. I could also feel something else from him…

Stubbornness.

"Yes mom." Luka said. I would make fun of him for being a total suck-up, but I don't exactly have room to talk. Mothers are scary people.

So the day went by with the same boring routine. Though it does not seem like Luka had given up on the idea of sneaking a peek at this baptism coming up for one of the villagers tomorrow. Forgot who was going, honestly I didn't really care about who it was.

Now the day went by and before I knew it, night had fallen. I was left just in total darkness by the way. Turns out once Luka's eyes are closed while he's sleeping, I'm left with no visuals whatsoever.

It was quite fun reliving the nightmare that was my purgatory.

Though to be fair it was more tolerable given how I could still hear sound. Better than the silence I had to put up with for god knows how long. Even if all I'm hearing right now is crickets. Now that I think about it, wouldn't there be no light pollution?

It'd be sweet to see all the stars, constellations, and stuff.

I was interrupted from my daydreaming by a slight pull I felt. That's rather… puzzling. I never felt something like this before in all of the time I've spent here. You'd think I would notice something like this before.

The 'pull' I could feel was rather close… like really close to me. I'd say that it was mere inches from me. The question was what was caus-

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"

I suddenly heard a roar coming in the direction where the pull was. I would like to say that didn't scare me, but it did. Pretty sure if I had a body, my soul would have jumped right out of it. I could also tell that I was the only one who heard that because if Luka had he'd have woken up.

Hell, pretty sure that roar would've woken up the entire village along with their dearly departed.

The main problem is should I investigate it or leave it be? It has to be coming from somewhere inside Luka given I'm the only one who could hear it. The longer I waited, the more curious I got.

I might as well bite the bullet and go check it out. Not like I got anything better to do. And besides what's the worst that could happen besides me dying. It's not like I hadn't already spent my first and only life already anyway.

I started "moving" to where I felt the pull was coming from. It's really hard to describe, but I think I was moving through Luka's soul or something? I was basically just moving through the closest thing a human would have that's everlasting.

No big deal.

It got weirder the closer I got near the source of the commotion. It wasn't the first time I had "traveled" around Luka's soul. It was much more colorful than I expected. While the outside of it is pale white, the inside was quite a rainbow of colors. Luka's soul was filled with a lot of swirling red that felt angry, though I couldn't tell what it was directed at.

The commotion I was looking for the noise coming from… I guess the closest description would be this big sphere. It looked like some kind of bubble.

It wasn't transparent like any bubble I knew though, in fact…

Wasn't that the village? How the hell could it get in here?

I hesitantly moved over to poke it with my finger. A shiver went down my nonexistent spine when I could actually feel a ripple. It kinda felt like sticking your finger in still water for the first time, but less cold. The bubble was actually quite temperate, and I wasn't sure if I could feel wind or if it was just my imagination.

A split second passed in which I was thinking to myself that maybe investigating wasn't exactly my smartest course of action. Sure, it might get me some closure, but is it really worth getting potentially munched on just for curiosity's sake? Though I had already died once before, so it's not like I had another life to give up again.

You know what fuck it.

I generally don't make a habit of trusting my gut, but something tells me that following my instincts is the best thing I can do.

With my guts backing me, I made a fast flight straight into the bubble. If there is one thing I like about my lack of a body, it's the fact that I don't obey the rules of gravity anymore. I barely felt the ripple before I could feel the wind brushing against me…

* * *

I missed the sensation of wind to be honest. Hell, there was a lot of things I missed. Sure, it's not like I couldn't feel things from Luka, it's just that I'd rather feel them from my own flesh, than second hand sensations from a different body.

I almost missed the part where I suffer for my impulsive takeout.

The part where I now have no control over my flight path anymore. Turns out, that free flight belongs with the incorporeal body. Entering this bubble might've given me the five senses back, but it made me particularly vulnerable to the shitty parts of having a solid body.

Oh Newton's laws, how I loath you right now. Back in spirit form, I didn't have anything pulling me down, nor influencing my flight path. At the moment however…

Let's just say that I have front flips for days. I couldn't see a damn thing at the moment, everything is blurring, and I'm trying not to have a panic attack. Okay, let's calm down and see if I can't at least try to slow myself down and-

My thoughts went to a halt when I felt my face smack straight into fucking bark. I've had a door slam in my face before, but that pain paled in comparison to inadvertently pulling a George of the Jungle. Sure, I was finally stopped, but I didn't appreciate my nose being smashed in the progress.

"OW! My face! The most important thing to a man besides his sword!" I screamed while clutching my face, like it could fall apart at any moment. I could also feel something dripping in my hands. I forced myself to open my watering eyes, only to meet the sight of bloodied hands.

Apparently, using your face as self-improvised brakes on trees has enough force to not only break said nose, but also bloody it.

I could bitch more about my nose, but I counted myself lucky that I hadn't broken my neck.

Again.

After a much needed break to let my eyes stop watering, I opened them to take a look around my surroundings. Given how I see some farmland, houses, a water well off, and of course fucking trees… I'd say I'm in a village.

And not just any village, but the same village Luka lives in. Is it possible I'm in his dream? I'd normally be skeptical, but my skepticism didn't have much room to stand upon honestly…

But if this dream is Luka's, doesn't that mean that roar came from it? Is he having a nightmare or something?

My musing was short as I could hear an explosion go off in the distance. Alarmed at the big ass boom, I turned my head only to pale at what I saw.

It was really big, with dark scales to complement its grey wings. The monster's tail was also long and slender; I had a feeling that being hit by it's tail wouldn't feel good either.

It took me less than a second to recognize what I was staring at.

A dragon.

Specifically the western variant of them. A mythical monster infamous for terrorizing villages and hoarding enough gold to make the greediest of bankers cringe in disgust. Dragons are top dogs in most of the fantasy novels I've read, and usually needs something special to put down.

Unless all of the historical accounts was right, this means that I am not in the normal medieval times, but in the fantasy ones.

Not sure whether to be excited that magic might be around, or to feel dread. Dungeons and Dragons might be fun to think about, but that by no means I want to hang around a possible death world.

I…

I really need to find Luka and get to making a friendship with the guy, even if I have to go out of my way to do so. A good first step would be contacting him through this dream. Though I'm going to have to find him first, so where would he be at?

As I pondered, I noticed that the dragon was hit in the face by something. Not only was it fast, but the blow was apparently strong enough to force its head back. The dragon actually stopped burning down a house to look around for its attacker.

"Ora!" The dragon's speedy foe shouted out his battle cry before it got hit again in the face. That voice was awfully familiar too…

"Give up foul beast! For my blade of justice shall never falter!" Luka shouted at the beast. Yeah, it was Luka; I could recognize that short stature and purple hair from anywhere. I'm not going to lie, that line he said was cheesy as hell, but it was kinda cool given the situation.

Too bad, it was in a dream, and not happening in real life.

The dragon snarled before flying up and attempting to gain some distance from Luka. Considering it had got its face smacked without even noticing the attack coming, I could understand its sentiment.

Good news for me, is that I now know where Luka is.

Now the question is, how exactly am I going to get close to him without the Dragon roasting me? Sure it flew off, but I don't think it had its fill yet. For all I know I'm not sure If I can die again in a dream, and I'm not exactly eager to find out. Should I wait it out?

Wait, now that I think about it… Isn't this a prime opportunity? I'm alone with him right now, with no third wheels around to pick their noses into a possible conversation and interfere. Especially that dragon, that dragon is a big nope for me. Not sure how long it'll be gone, but this is too good to pass up.

Also If this is a dream, then Luka might be able to alter or stop only problem being right now is getting Luka to listen to me. I'm not sure if he's aware he's in a dream or not at the moment, but I know that if I was in his situation I wouldn't believe that he has a dead man talking to him.

Worst case scenario, he flips out, tells his mom about me, and she brings in a priest to exorcise me.

….

I reluctantly swallowed my fear, and decided to calmly walk over to Luka. This could go very badly if I fuck it up, but I'm thinking that if I'm not aggressive I'll be able to talk this out with him without a misunderstanding occurring.

As I walked up to him, I was actually caught off-guard to see him looking in my direction patiently. As if he was aware that I was watching the whole time…

Okay, that's slightly creepy.

"Are you okay citizen?" Luka said with concern in his voice. You know, this is probably the first time in months I'd had somebody to talk with. Even if it's just in some kid's dream. Jacob Silver, do not fuck this up.

"Y-Yeah, a little bloody nose, but the dragon didn't do that."

That fucking stutter. Goddamn it, what did I just say!?

"Oh, that's good…" Luka didn't seem to notice the stutter I just made. Either that, or he doesn't care.

I'll just roll with it.

"I actually do have something to tell you, Luka. So if I could have a moment of your time."

"Sure, but make it quick because I think that dragon's almost done licking its wounds."

Okay. How the hell am I going to break it to him without sounding like a lunatic? Or worse, a possible bad guy?

"I shouldn't be in here with you right now. In fact, I currently shouldn't be here right now."

Luka nodded, like he knew exactly what I was saying.

"Yeah, it's my bad. I thought I had evacuated everyone but it seems I missed someone. Sorry for that."

I resisted the urge to palm my face. I'm going to have to be more clear on exactly what I meant. Context is very important for this type of conversation.

"Luka, I am in a dream, your dream. This isn't real and-"

I blinked as I noticed that Luka wasn't paying me any attention anymore. He was staring at the sky for some reason. Please don't tell me that the dragon is coming back?

Given that black dot I can see out in the distance is getting bigger, I'm going to take an educated guess that yes, that fucking dragon is coming back. Joy. I'm going to have to wait for Luka to deal with that scaley fucker aren't I?

As I was tapping into my inner whiner, I heard a loud crackle. To my astonishment, a big bolt of lightning hit the dragon in the torso. The crackle the lightning made sent a rather cold shiver down my spine.

So as I watched the dragon's body plummet into down into the ground, I was left with but one simple thought.

Why couldn't my dreams ever go that well?

Luka turned his head towards me.

"So what were you saying about this being a…" He paused for a moment, clearly thinking. So he did hear me. "Dream?"

I thought over my words carefully. Should I go full out on the whole 'A dead man's spirit is talking to you, and is currently inside you?' or should I go for a white lie?

...Fuck it. I'm shitty at lies to begin with, so might as well make this quick.

"Well, this is going to be a long story, so I think I'll summarize it for you." Luka nodded. Okay good, because I really wouldn't like to repeat myself.

"So I'm basically a spirit who for some reason found itself stuck in your body when he died. Yeah, didn't go to any afterlife, besides the…" I repressed a shudder at the memory of that hellish void. I think I legit got a phobia of black empty voids now. "...Void. Long story short, I saw a light in this black void, went for it because why not? And found myself here."

"How did you get in my dream?"

I shrugged at that. I myself didn't really understand how I took a ride into Luka's subconscious, but I managed it somehow.

"Don't really now… By the way, you are really taking this well."

Luka smiled, and opened his mouth to continue talking with me when he vanished.

He literally disappeared right in front of my eyes. Like faded mid-conversation. I will not lie, that was kinda freaky.

And now that I think about it, my surroundings were starting to get blurry. I think the dream was coming to an end. At least I made some progress with some small talk.

Now the question is, would I get the boot, or do I have to find my way out?


	3. Something familar here, but can't recall

**AN:** **This took way longer then it should have. This is why I don't make deadlines because I have no idea if I'll be able to reach it. Anyway, enjoy.**

Coming out of the dream was weird. For a moment it felt like I had gone unconscious, but I think that was just the shift in perspective screwing with me. Though I was a little unhappy that I was now stuck in spirit form again. I had enjoyed the short moment I could feel my own body again.

Though now that the emotional high of finally having somebody to talk with had simmered down, I started to regret what I just did. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to try to make the kid aware of me. If he didn't pass me off as a dream, he might just try to talk to his mom about me.

And if that mom of his decides to bring in an exorcist… well, I'm not even sure if I can be exorcised. I'm not interested in finding out either. For all, I know the exorcism would just send me back into the void.

And I REFUSE to go back to that hellhole again. In fact, I'd rather be sent to hell than go back into the void again.

My thoughts were interrupted when I finally felt Luka stirring from his sleep.

'This should be interesting… I wonder what will happen now? I hope he doesn't panic. That'd be bad.'

My vision which was slowly unblurring gained clear focus. I was once again staring up at a ceiling. Luka had opened his eyes which allowed me to see as well.

It was weird honestly. Everything that Luka saw, touched, tasted… I could feel every bit of it. Sharing isn't unwelcomed considering I once thought I would never feel anything again, but it still felt weird.

Hmm...

Luka hasn't moved out his bed yet. I wonder why? Maybe he wasn't feeling too well? Or maybe he was thinking about that dream I had shown up at last night.

"I wonder what I dreamed about last night? Oh well, can't be that important if I don't remember it."

Oh...

I'm not going to lie that was actually hurtful. I'd like to think that I wasn't that easy to forget about. Though it wasn't really his fault since not everyone can recall their dreams. So I shouldn't really take it personally.

Besides, I probably dodged a bullet. My reckless action might have caused both of us a lot of trouble. I'd better just stay quiet and observe what's going on. There's still not much I know about the circumstances surrounding me and Luka.

I still am honestly clueless about exactly how I got here.

Well, I guess there isn't really much else to do but wait for something interesting to pop up.

As it turns out something interesting did happen, but Luka wasn't here to see it. Which also extends to me, unfortunately. It was also something I had forgotten about since I was too caught up with talking with the kid.

The Baptism. I wouldn't exactly say I wouldn't have been against Luka sneaking out and trying to peek into it. It'd have been a nice source of information that wouldn't require me to expose myself. I had a funny feeling that's what he was aiming for.

Too bad he didn't exactly have the attention span to remember what he wanted to do. Kids aren't exactly known for their incredible memory abilities. Especially when they have other things to distract them from thinking about it.

It was hilarious to see him realize he missed his chance to see somebody become a "hero". I couldn't see it, but I could feel him pouting. That was enough to bring some mirth to me.

It was nice to have some entertainment to pass the time. Even if it was at the expense of some unfortunate soul.

I'm kind of an asshole, aren't I?

My mirth was cut short when Luka and his mom, Lucasta, were walking to the butcher's shop to get some cuts. It wasn't the walk itself that bothered me. It was the burning glares that were greeting them that was annoying me.

I've already known that they aren't well liked because of their foreigners to the village, and I can understand being slightly suspicious of strangers, but this is utterly ridiculous.

Then again, prejudice is rarely logical. And it's in human nature to block out anything that challenges their beliefs, unfortunately. There isn't much I can do about it anyway.

I'm not exactly in the condition to do much considering I'm a spirit right now.

"Don't pay it any mind, Luka... Just keep looking forward." Lucasta whispered to her son. Ah, the old 'Ignore the problem and it'll go away.' solution.

A personal favorite of mine. I liked using that tactic in high school and middle school to ignore the bullies. Though it doesn't work most of the time.

As it turns out, that just encourages bullies to continue doing what they're doing. Opportunistic predators find any sign of weakness particularly appetizing.

These people glaring at them though aren't schoolyard punks bullying a weak isolated child though. These are full grown adults and given the time period I'm in... I wouldn't be surprised if they were itching for an excuse to start a witch-hunt.

Okay, I'd better stop my train of thought there. My mood's starting to darken again. Unhappy thoughts begone!

...

Didn't work.

Anyway, it wasn't long before they made it to the butcher's shop. As they walked in, I was greeted with the sight of a grizzled old man. Guy had a full grey beard and everything. Not going to lie, was kinda jealous of the glorious beard.

Wish I had lived long enough to grow mine out...

The guy was nice enough. He was gruff, but at least he treated us cordially and didn't treat us like we had the plague.

Wait, did I just say us?

I really need to get out of here. That's some dangerous thinking I'm doing right now. This is Luka's body, not mine. I just happened to be freeloading on it right now. I'm starting to worry that I'm going loony.

The butcher made some small talk with Lucasta. Luka meanwhile was looking around the shop. He didn't feel like he was comfortable being around here and was trying to distract himself.

It's weird how I can tell what he's feeling.

Is this some kind of empathy link feedback I'm getting? I'm not sure how well I like this...

It didn't take long before business had concluded. Interestingly enough Lucasta handed over some coins to him. Luka wasn't close enough to see what was on them, but I could tell that they seemed to be some type of gold coin.

I highly doubt it's 100% pure gold. I could be wrong about that, given my knowledge of how gold was used back in the olden days is poor.

With the cuts of beef and chicken in her bag, Lucifina headed out of the store. With Luka, and by extension me, following closely behind.

As it turns out Luka didn't really have any chores to do today. Lucifina was busy with cooking, so Luka found himself with some free time to play around.

So he decided to go off a tiny bit out of town and play with a branch that was lying on the ground. He was treating it like a sword and was basically swinging it around, playing pretend hero. It reminded me a bit of me when I was little myself and imagined myself slaying evil monstrosities.

Good times.

The sound of the branch breaking in Luka's hand broke me out of my thoughts.

Oh yeah, broken off branches generally aren't that durable. Tends to be the case given that not only are they the dead decaying parts of a tree.

Luka sighed, clearly distraught at the loss of the branch.

"That's another branch gone... I really need to get something tougher."

Yes, yes you do.

Though I think a sword would be difficult to come by. If I recall they were pretty expensive and it was considered a sign of status to have one in the dark times. Considering Luka and his mother don't seem to be loaded considering they live in a modest house, I'll take a fair guess that they are not nobles.

As I speculated over the financial conditions of my host, I spotted something that caused my thoughts to halt. I also felt a pang of fear hit me.

"Heeey! Human! Let's play!" The tiny voice shouted at Luka. Through Luka's eyes, I could see what looked like a tiny flying girl flying in the air, hovering right in front of him. What also concerned me was that Luka didn't react at all. He didn't even seem like he could see her.

Actually, now that I think about it, wouldn't that be a fairy? What the hell is a fay doing here!?

'Oh shit! That's not good! The Fay are not nice at all! Those myths I've read told me that they often kidnapped children and casually murdered anyone who pissed them off! And Luka is standing right in front of one and doesn't seem like he can see her at all!?'

Wait a minute...

Maybe he can't even see her at all? I mean it's not like its impossible for them to have some type of invisibility spell. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

"Huh? What's the dark stuff coming out of you? Looks icky! Though I wonder what it feels like... I wanna touch it now!"

 _"Ah! No! Stay back you winged menace! I know what your kind like to do!"_ I screamed out, no longer bothering to contain myself with my thoughts. Luka jumped in fright at the sudden scream I emitted.

I wanted that fairy gone. I didn't care about concealing myself anymore. I just wanted her gone before she got any funny ideas.

On reflex, my hand shot out and swatted her. Or at least I felt like I was smacking her with my hand. Through Luka's eyes, all I saw was a tendril made of shadow shoot out of his body and whip the empty air. The tendril was pretty damn fast too. It was only visible for a split second before it vanished.

The fairy yelped as she was sent flying off into the field. A part of me almost felt bad until I remembered that I have no idea what 'playing' entailed.

Better safe than sorry.

"W-What was that?" Luka stuttered. Oh crap, now I scared him. What should I do? I was never good with kids back when I was alive, and I highly doubt that's improved since I became an otherworldly monster. Should I just say nothing and pretend I don't exist? I mean even if he told someone... scratch that, he's in a time where people believe in ghosts and goblins.

It'd be pretty easy for him to get someone to believe him.

"...Maybe that dream wasn't just a dream after all... J-Jacob was that you?"

Oh. I thought he forgot about the dream he had. Then again, maybe my screaming refreshed his memory. This is what I get for not thinking things through. You reap what you sow Jacob, you reap what you sow.

I might as well get this over with.

 _"Yes, that was me."_ I reluctantly acknowledged his question. _"I was honestly considering just not saying anything after I noticed you forgot about me when you woke up..."_

"Why not?"

 _"Well..."_ Shit! I really shouldn't have said anything back! Now I'm going to have come up with something quick! _"...I didn't want those villagers to have more of a reason to hate you. They don't seem to be the understanding type from what I've seen so far."_ It wasn't a complete lie. I didn't want those villagers to find an excuse to go witch hunting.

Though it also helped that I had a sense of self-preservation. Half truths for the win!

...

I really shouldn't be celebrating that. The fact I had to not say the complete truth isn't good.

"They aren't that bad, the-" Luka stopped his response short. I felt his body stiffen and a strong feeling of angry coming from him. It must be tough trying to defend people who treated him and his mother like dirt. "they're just afraid."

 _'And very xenophobic. '_ I didn't say that out loud to Luka. I was still trying to figure out why exactly they were detected by the locals. It could have been something as simple as paranoia against outsiders, but there was a nagging feeling that wouldn't leave me that was telling me something else was up.

The worst part was I still couldn't figure out exactly what it was. It's been eating at me since I've found myself stranded here. Every time I tried to recall, I felt something stir before fading.

It was extremely fucking frustrating to have the answer within reach, yet you can't exactly touch it just yet. Was this some sort of symptom of being inside of that void?

"J-Jacob? Are you all right? You went quiet for a minute there..." Luka thankfully broke me out of trail of thought. I can focus on that later. My first priority should be information gathering. That could kill two birds with one stone.

Not only would I be getting information about the world I'm at, but I might trigger some recollection. At this point, I'm certain that I'm in some kind of fantasy world, but being wrong isn't out of the question.

 _"Yeah, sorry about that. I was just thinking about something. Though I should ask you not to talk to me when people are around. People will think you're crazy."_

To my satisfaction, my response got a sputter out of him. It was always the simple things in life that were the most enjoyable. Well, I wasn't technically "alive" but technicalities won't bother me too much.

With that Luka went on his way back home. Oddly, he didn't bother asking me any questions on the way there, but I'm sure he's still digesting that fact he just talked to a dead man and said deadman is a freeloader.


End file.
